Arizona also interviewed Todd Haley after firing Ken Whisenhunt

"Pittsburgh West" continues in Arizona, where the Cardinals filled the NFL's final head coaching vacancy by hiring one former Steelers offensive coordinator to replace another.

Bruce Arians, who was named the Indianapolis Colts' offensive coordinator shortly after the Steelers announced his "retirement" for him last year, became a head coach for the first time Thursday night. The Cardinals said they will introduce Arians at a noon news conference Friday.

The Cardinals chose Arians after a coaching search that also saw them interview Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Todd Haley, with the Steelers' permission. Haley replaced Arians in Pittsburgh after the 2011 season.

Arizona's defensive coordinator is Ray Horton, who was the secondary coach for several years in Pittsburgh when Arians was also there. Arians did not say if he'll keep Horton on his coaching staff.

The Cards posted a photo of Arians getting a congratulatory call from wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, the former Pitt star who is vacationing in Belize.

This is Arians' first head coaching job after a long NFL career. He went 9-3 as the Colts' interim head coach this season while Chuck Pagano underwent treatment for leukemia, and he told reporters on Thursday that it "answered all questions I ever had" about whether he could succeed as a head coach.

Wearing a Super Bowl ring from his Pittsburgh days on his right hand, Arians said his interim stint in Indianapolis taught him that being a head coach is "not as hard as it's supposed to be."

"It's really not," Arians said. "I think it's all about building relationships. Coaching is all about relationships. As long as it's built on trust, loyalty, and respect, anything is possible."

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